Government wastes education funding on Standards data

10 June 2013

Immediate Release

Government wastes education funding on invalid National Standards data

Millions of dollars have been spent on introducing irrelevant National Standards to produce student data that tells schools what they already know, NZEI Te Riu Roa says.

NZEI President Judith Nowotarski says teachers have always identified the children that are struggling with their learning through assessment and their own professional knowledge.

"But what teachers and schools really need now is action by the Government, not a continued obsession with data.

"Teachers need smaller classes so that children can get more individual attention, along with more specialist support. We need more funding for professional development for teachers and teacher aides so that effective teaching strategies are being used in every school. In the end it comes down to the time and money the Government provides to ensure every child gets the education they need."

She says the National Standards data published today is as unreliable and invalid as last year in terms of judging teacher or school effectiveness, and that parents will not find it reliable or useful to either make judgements about their own child or their local school.

She says the main conclusion that can be drawn, given the data is unreliable and broad-brush, is that there was a strong correlation between a child's socio-economic status and their educational achievement.

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